A number of hard surface cleaners have been specially formulated to target bathroom soils. These cleaners may include such constituents as surfactants, acidic cleaners, buffers, agents for combating mildew and fungus (e.g., liquid sodium hypochlorite), bacteriostats, dyes, fragrances, and the like in order to provide performance and/or aesthetic enhancements. In addition, such cleaners may contain a chelant or sequestrant in order to assist with the removal of the various soap and mineral deposits (e.g., Ca, Mg, and Fe, etc.) which are found in typical bathroom soils. Hard surface cleaners generally may be applied by pouring, by application with a cloth or sponge, or by spraying in either an aerosol or non-aerosol fashion.
Gipp, U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,527, discloses a laundry prespotter comprising at least 5% by weight of nonionic surfactants and a chelating agent, which includes, among many others, tetrapotassium ethylenediamine-tetraacetate and tetraammonium ethylenediamine-tetraacetate, but which is substantially solvent-free and which does not exemplify tri- or tetrapotassium ethylenediamine-tetraacetate (potassium EDTA) or tri- or tetraammonium ethylenediamine-tetraacetate (ammonium EDTA). This reference fails to teach, disclose or suggest the formulation of an aerosol cleaner with an enhanced bathroom soil removal capability.
Bolan, U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,215, discloses but does not exemplify the use of potassium or ammonium EDTA in a thixotropic gel for tile cleaning. However, the reference neither discloses, teaches or suggests the presence of a solvent, nor discloses, teaches or suggests the formulation of an aerosol cleaner with an enhanced bathroom soil removal capability.
Graubart et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,984, discloses a cleaning composition comprising quaternary ammonium compounds, a mixture of nonionic surfactants, and a glycol ether. The reference further discloses that a chelating agent may be used in the composition and that tetrasodium EDTA is particularly preferred. However, the reference fails to teach, disclose or suggest the use of potassium or ammonium EDTA as a chelant, and further fails to teach, disclose or suggest the formulation of an aerosol cleaner with an enhanced bathroom soil removal capability.
Brusky, U.S. Pat. No. 4,749,516, discloses a laundry prespotter comprising a salt, a mixture of nonionic and anionic surfactants, and a hydrocarbon solvent. The reference discloses but does not exemplify that the salt may include salts of EDTA besides the standard sodium salt, including the potassium, and ammonium salts. However, the reference fails to teach, disclose or suggest the formulation of an aerosol cleaner with an enhanced bathroom soil removal capability.
Malik, H269, discloses a disinfectant cleaning composition comprising a quaternary ammonium halide compound and a glycoside surfactant, including alkyl polyglycosides. The reference discloses but does not exemplify that, optionally, a water soluble detergent builder may be incorporated into the composition, including the sodium, potassium, lithium, and ammonium salts of EDTA. However, the reference fails to teach, disclose or suggest the formulation of an aerosol cleaner with an enhanced bathroom soil removal capability.
Co-pending application Ser. No. 08/507,543 filed Mar. 5, 1998, a continued-prosecution-application of Ser. No. 08/507,543, filed Jul. 26, 1995, now abandoned, of Zhou et al., entitled "Antimicrobial Hard Surface Cleaner," of common assignment, discloses and claims an antimicrobial hard surface cleaner which includes amine oxide, quaternary ammonium compound and tetrasodium EDTA, in which a critical amine oxide:EDTA ratio results in enhanced non-streaking and non-filming performance.
Co-pending application Ser. No. 08/605,822, filed Feb. 23, 1996, of Choy et al., entitled "Composition and Apparatus for Surface Cleaning," of common assignment, discloses and claims a hard surface cleaner which uses a dual chamber delivery system, one chamber containing an oxidant solution and the other, a combination of chelating agents and surfactants.
However, none of the prior art teaches, discloses or suggests the use of potassium EDTA and/or ammonium EDTA as an effective chelating agent with the additional extremely surprising advantage of a greatly enhanced bathroom soil removal capability as compared to other liquid, one-phase cleaners, and especially as compared to those formulated with tetrasodium EDTA. Indeed, all known prior art suggests that the various salts of EDTA (i.e., the potassium, ammonium, and sodium salts, etc.) are interchangeably equivalent with respect to their use as chelants or builders in cleaning compositions. That this is highly incorrect, at least with respect to the cleaning of bathroom type soils, will be clearly demonstrated by experiment later herein, Additionally, none of the art discloses, teaches or suggests an aerosol formulation of a potassium and/or ammonium EDTA-containing cleaning composition.